In the spring of 1930, the Senate considered the following resolution:

Whereas dial telephones are more difficult to operate than aremanual telephones; and Whereas Senators are required, since theinstallation of dial phones in the Capitol, to perform the duties oftelephone operators in order to enjoy the benefits of telephoneservice; and Whereas dial telephones have failed to expedite telephoneservice; Therefore be it resolved that the Sergeant at Arms of theSenate is authorized and directed to order the Chesapeake and PotomacTelephone Co. to replace with manual phones within 30 days after theadoption of this resolution, all dial telephones in the Senate wing ofthe United States Capitol and in the Senate office building.

Sponsored by Virginia's Carter Glass, the resolution passed withoutobjection when first considered on May 22, 1930. Arizona's HenryAshurst praised its sponsor for his restrained language. TheCongressional Record would not be mailable, he said, "if it containedin print what Senators think of the dial telephone system." WhenWashington Senator Clarence Dill asked why the resolution did not alsoban the dial system from the District of Columbia, Glass said he hopedthe phone company would take the hint.

One day before the scheduled removal of all dial phones, MarylandSenator Millard Tydings offered a resolution to give senators achoice. It appeared that some of the younger senators actuallypreferred the dial phones. This angered the anti-dial senators, whoimmediately blocked the measure's consideration.

Finally, technology offered a solution. Although the telephone companyhad pressed for the installation of an all-dial system, itacknowledged that it could provide the Senate with phones that workedboth ways. But Senator Dill was not ready to give up. In hisexperience, the dial phone "could not be more awkward than it is. Onehas to use both hands to dial; he must be in a position where there isgood light, day or night, in order to see the number; and if hehappens to turn the dial not quite far enough, then he gets a wrongconnection."

Senator Glass, the original sponsor, had the last word before theSenate agreed to the compromise plan. "Mr. President, so long as I amnot pestered with the dial and may have the manual telephone, whilethose who want to be pestered with [the dial] may have it, all right."